


Cheers I'll drink to that Bro

by writehandman



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, oh my God they were drinking buddies, set in the 'shadows and things that cast them' universe, what if they were drinking buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 11:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writehandman/pseuds/writehandman
Summary: Cody goes drinking in a seedy bar, and runs into someone with the same face.





	Cheers I'll drink to that Bro

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fandom_Trash224](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Shadows and The Things That Cast Them](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18650350) by [Fandom_Trash224](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/pseuds/Fandom_Trash224). 

> hi twilly i love everything you've done but I REALLY like this universe

Cody didn't go to 79’s anymore. Partly because nobody would serve him alcohol, but mostly because he knew the sight of him ruined most people's nights. All of his brothers avoided him like the plague, and very few bars would serve him as it were, as a clone. Being a clone visibly recognizable as a traitor to even nat-borns? Forget it.

Which was why Cody was currently in this shithole, nursing beer that tasted rancid and full of grit. The bartender was one of those 'don't mess with me, be quiet, and I'll keep serving you’ types, which he'd be forever thankful for. It wasn't a nice, or even friendly bar by any stretch of the imagination. There was no music, and the noise barely got above a low clammer. But nobody bothered him here. Probably because it was full of the bottom of the barrel folks, like himself. 

So when somebody sat next to him, he didn't look up, just kept drawing designs in the condensation on his glass, and drinking when he began to think. He really should have looked up.

“Hey traitor.” The most familiar voice in the universe said. It was also  _ the worst possible _ carrier of that voice. Sitting next to Cody, was none other than Commander Fox.

“Oh fuck.”

Fox blinked at him. “Y'know. I don't think I've ever heard you swear. Even when we were cadets.”

Cody shot down the rest of his drink with a grimace. “Well, I'm already a disgrace. What's a little alcoholism and swearing going to do to make my image any worse?”

Fox shrugged and ordered himself a drink. “Put it on his tab.” 

“Oh great, you come to my little hidey hole,  _ and _ you want to get sloshed on my dime?”

“Well, the Republic didn't make you pay nearly enough. And I still want to kick your ass. So I think you paying is a fair start.” Fox nodded at the bartender, and took his drink, a clear liquid that smelled suspiciously similar to what the medics used as sterilization solution.

“ _ Fine _ .” Cody growled at him, scowling into his empty cup, as he tried to give Fox the cold shoulder.

It worked for an unfortunately short amount of time.

“Why'd you do it Cody?” Fox asked quietly. “I mean, we've all seen the trial, we all know you did it out of a sense of loyalty, but…  _ why? _ ”

Cody needed more alcohol before this happened. “No. Absolutely not. You come into one of the seediest bars in the city, one that I chose  _ explicitly _ so I wouldn't have to see anyone I know, and you want to interrogate me?” He snapped at him. “Why  _ are  _ you here?”

Fox flagged the bartender down, and had him pour Cody another drink. “You think anybody actually  _ wants _ me around? I don't know if you've forgotten, but I've actually killed another brother. Not just indirectly, but I pulled the trigger. On Palpatine's order.” He laughed bitterly. “Nobody can look me in the eye anymore.”

Taking a tentative sip of his drink, Cody assessed Fox. At first glance, he looked fairly well put together. But now he was noticing that the civvies were ill fitting, but still looked worn. “Are those even yours?”

“What? No. Course not. I never had a day off during the war, and now downtime gives me even more anxiety, because I feel like I should be working.” He took a swig and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “These are Thorn's. He let me borrow em. Pretty much none of the bars let you in if you're wearing plate, or if you're in grays.”

“Well it's not like you'd actually want to be in grays-”

“-They're so damn itchy, I know.” Fox finished, a wry smile twisting his lips. “But I feel frivolous actually buying clothes. I should, we're free, wars over, but.” He shrugged a shoulder noncommittally.

“Yeah. I get it.” Cody laughed, an empty and tired sound. “Why spend money on property that you don't even own?”

Fox raised his glass in a mock toast. “And that if it gets damaged, is considered easier to just get a new model.”

“You're funnier than you look.” Cody admitted grudgingly. 

“We're identical.” 

“No, see, this scar makes me rakishly handsome. You look like a square.” 

“I do not! I- actually, no, you're probably right.” Fox sighed. “You're pretty alright, Cody. Well, as alright as a traitor and a coward can be.” 

“Hey man, I'll take what I can get.” Cody shrugged. “Not many people talk to me these days. Usually just Rex, and a few of my men.”

“They're not really yours anymore though, are they.” 

When Cody shot him a sharp look, he held his hands up disarmingly. “I'm just saying, that you're not exactly their commander, is all.”

Cody deflated, and looked tired. “Yeah. I just forget. All my life I was trained to be  _ one thing _ . And now I'm not. It's a weird dichotomy. There's the commander side of my brain that wants to smack me for wallowing, and then make me face myself. But the realistic side of me says it's much more likely that I'll live longer if I stay as far away from all of it as possible.”

Fox snorted and threw back his drink. “I don't talk to anyone as it is. This is probably the longest conversation I've had with another CC, in probably years. Definitely the longest _ personal _ one.”

Cody laughed quietly, and they sat in companionable silence. Certainly not what he had been expecting when Fox had approached. His expectations involved a lot more blood, and probably stitches. And then being kicked out of the bar forever, and having to find a new watering hole.

“If you really want to know.” Cody started, tentatively breaking the silence. “Why I did it, I mean, I'll tell you.”

Fox put his half empty glass down, and turned to look at him.

He took a deep breath and started talking, the words rushing out as if a dam had burst. “I loved Kenobi, and I honestly thought he loved me. So of course I trusted him. I trusted him, even as I heard the worst possible things about him, I kept believing what he told me, that everything would blow over. And then I cracked under the pressure, because he  _ couldn't _ have done all of that, and that with a trial, everything would fall away like smoke.” Cody flagged the bartender down, and just got the entire bottle, throwing the proper amount of credit chips down.

He took the cap off with his teeth and topped off Fox's glass before drinking straight out of the bottle, hand gripped around the neck.

“And when we got to Tatooine, I tried to talk to him, but. I've never seen the genera- I've never seen Kenobi so furious. He was so mad at me, and there… I just couldn't understand.” Cody laughed humorlessly. “It wasn't Obi-Wan. I don't think he had been for a while. I went to go see him, you know.”

“What happened?” Fox asked, tactful, for once in his life.

“He laughed at me.” Cody smiled tiredly, taking a long pull before continuing. “He laughed and told me that not only was I a traitor to the republic, but a traitor to him. He wasn't wrong.”

“That's… well, you made the choices you made.” Fox hedged. “I can't say you didn't deserve it.”

“If you did, I'd call you a liar.” Cody snorted, clapping him on the back. “I appreciate your honesty.”

“Thanks for telling me. In another world, I wouldn't have any trouble calling you my vod.” Fox smiled at him.

“This one is already fucked beyond repair, what's stopping you? The only thing that holds us back is ourselves, now.”

“Guess that's true. Cheers, vod.”

“Cheers.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
